London Parks & Gardens Trust

Upper Chelsea and Belgravia

Cadogan Place south gardens

Directions

Outside the main entrance of Sloane Street underground
station, walk straight ahead, and use the crossing to cross Holbein
Place. Cross into the middle of the square at the traffic lights at the
junction of Lower Sloane Street. Continue across the square and into
Sloane Street, which is straight ahead. Walk down Sloane Street, taking
the fourth right turn into Cadogan Place.

Cross over and walk along with the garden on your
left. There is a view into the garden over the gate opposite number 84.
Continue walking round with the garden on your left and stop at No.
43B.

Continue on to No. 30.

If you are visiting this garden on Open Garden Squares Weekend, be careful to check the opening times.

Description

In 1717 Charles, second Earl of Cadogan, married Elizabeth, daughter
and heiress of Sir Hans Sloane, lord of the manor of Chelsea. In 1777
their son leased 100 acres of land to architect Henry
Holland (1745-1806) for building development.

After the Great Fire of London in the previous century, wealthy
Londoners had not wanted to return to the crowded, dangerous conditions
of the old medieval City. Instead they flocked to the new estates being
built in the countryside to the west of London.

These self-contained communities, based around squares, offered a
different, healthier way of life. Thousands of wealthy people migrated
to live in the new West End, while continuing to do business in the
City, becoming in effect London's first commuters.

The building lease system, which had first been used by Lord
Southampton in Bloomsbury Square, was very popular with the owners of
country estates close to London. Plots were leased to builders at a low
ground rent, usually for 99 years, after which the land and houses
became the property of the landowner again.

Henry Holland built what he called 'Hans Town' on Lord Cadogan's
land, consisting of Sloane Square, Sloane Street, Cadogan Place and Hans
Place. The simple terraced houses of stock brick became immediately
fashionable among the upper middle and professional classes. Charles
Dickens described the area in Nicholas Nickelby as the connecting link
between 'the aristocratic pavements of Belgrave Square and the barbarism
of Chelsea'.

Cadogan Place was the first square to be developed by Henry Holland,
together with Sloane Square. The garden is divided into two parts. The
southern part, which you are walking beside now, was once known as the
London Botanic Garden, and was laid out at the end of the 18th century
by William Salisbury (d. 1823-9), containing a library, hothouse,
greenhouse and conservatory.

No. 43B was where anti-slavery campaigner
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) spent the final days of his life, at the
home of his cousin. Wilberforce and others campaigned for almost two
decades to bring an end to the British slave trade, finally succeeding in
1807. Three days before his death in 1833, he heard that the bill to
abolish slavery altogether had been passed, the culmination of his life's
work.

No. 30 was home in the 18th century to the highly popular
Irish comedy actress Dorothy Jordan (1761-1816). She had many lovers,
and for 21 years was mistress to the Duke of Clarence, who later became
King William IV. Mrs Jordan had 10 children by the duke, to add to the
five she already had! She was known for her wit: once when the duke
suggested reducing her allowance, she sent him a note, saying ‘No money
returned after the rising of the curtain!’